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Human and Health Sciences

Dr Abigail Locke

Principal Lecturer, Course Leader Psychology

Staff photo
Room: R2/14
Telephone Extension: 2063
Direct Telephone:
+44 (0) 1484 472063
E-mail: a.locke@hud.ac.uk
Qualifications: BSc. (Hons), PGCE, PhD, FHEA, CPsychol, CSci, AFBPsS

General Biography

I am a qualitative, critical social scientist interested in issues around social and health psychology, focusing on how the assumptions that we take for granted are constructed. I have recently co-founded the Institute for Health Citizenship that provides transdisciplinary perspectives on issues around health, wellbeing and the citizen.

I owe my education to the East Midlands where I obtained my degree in Psychology (1993, Loughborough University), PGCE (1995, University of Leicester) and PhD in Social Sciences (2001, Loughborough University). My PhD specialised in discursive psychology and I was lucky to be part of the Discourse and Rhetoric Group (DARG) there. I have taught at university level since 1996 and held Lectureships at the Universities of Coventry, Derby, Loughborough and now at Huddersfield. In May 2008 I moved to the University of Huddersfield as Principal Lecturer.

Professional Memberships:

  • British Psychological Society (BPS) Associate Fellow, Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist

  • BPS Social Psychology Section

  • BPS Qualitative Methods Section

  • Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology

  • Higher Education Academy

Professional Positions:

  • Member of BPS Ethical Advisory Reference Group

  • Member of BPS Social Psychology Steering Group

  • Committee member of BPS Social Psychology Section (2003-2009)

  • Editor of Social Psychological Review (2005-2009)

Reviewer for:

  • Academic journals: British Journal of Social Psychology; Scandinavian Journal of Medicine and Sport Science; Journal of Reproductive and Infant Psychology; Gender, Work and Organization; Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology; International Journal of Critical Psychology; Health, Social Psychological Review

  • Grant reviewer for Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

  • Reviewer of book proposals for a variety of publishers

Teaching & Academic Responsibilities

  • Course Leader for Psychology

  • Departmental representative for School Research Ethics Panel

  • Module Leader for HHB1049 Applied Exercise Psychology

  • Module Leader for HMB1004 Interview Skills

Contributions to:

  • HFB1001 Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods

  • HIB1003 Research Methods in Psychology

  • HMB 1001 Evaluation, Policy & Practice

  • HHM 1023 Parenting Education

  • Personal Tutor

  • Project supervision

  • Masters project supervision

  • Doctoral supervision

Research & Scholarship

My research fits around three main areas:

  1. Experiences of parenthood and antenatal care

  2. Emotion and discourses of mental states

  3. Communication between health care professionals and patients

Please see publications and funding information for more details.

Areas for Doctoral Supervision

  • Social constructions of parenting

  • Parents' experiences of pregnancy and early parenthood

  • Qualitative healthcare and links to citizenship

  • Communication between health care professionals and patients

  • Discursive approaches to areas within social and health psychology

Research Groups and Centres

  • Co-founder of Institute for Health Citizenship with Dr Pamela Fisher and Dr Steve Swindells (insert link)

  • Centre for Applied Psychological Research CAPR

  • Centre for Research in Social Sciences CRISS

  • Centre for Health and Social Care Research CHSCR

Grants awarded

  • Institute of Health Citizenship, £65K, University of Huddersfield (with Dr James Avis, Dr Pamela Fisher, Dr Steve Swindells).

  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)  £76K – 2008 - 2009– “Emotions and crime: A mixed methods approach” (in collaboration with Dr. Cromby, Prof. Brown & Prof. Gross).

  •  ‘Talking parenting’: Pilot for antenatal care project: Loughborough University Faculty of Science, Small Grant Scheme £1,450, 2005. 

  • ‘Constructions of infant feeding in antenatal care’: Grant awarded for conference dissemination of results. Loughborough University Faculty of Science, Small Grant Scheme £1400, 2006.

  • Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Postgraduate Studentship for “The mind-field of sport: Emotion, mind and accountability in athletes” 1998-2000, £24K

Publications, Conference Presentations

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles:

Horton-Salway, M. & Locke, A. (in press). But you might be damaging your baby’ Constructing choice and risk in labour and childbirth. Feminism and Psychology.

Locke, A. (2009) Natural versus taught’: Competing discourses in antenatal

Breastfeeding workshops. Journal of Health Psychology, 14, 435-446.

Locke, A. (2008). Managing agency for athletic performance: A discursive approach to the zone. Qualitative Research in Psychology., 5, 103-126.

Goodings, L., Locke, A. & Brown, S.D. (2007). Social Networking Technology: Place and Identity in Mediated Communities. Journal of Community and Applied Social Psychology, 17, 463-476.

Abell, J., Locke, A., Condor, S., Gibson, S. & Stevenson, C. (2006) ‘Trying

similarity, doing difference’: The role of interviewer self-disclosure in producing interview talk with young people. Qualitative Research, 6(2), 221-244. ISSN: 1468-7491.

Locke, A. (2004). Accounting for success and failure: A discursive psychological approach to sport talk. Quest, 56, 302-320. ISSN: 0033-6297.

Locke, A. & Edwards, D. (2003). Bill and Monica: Memory, emotion and normativity in Clinton’s Grand Jury testimony.  British Journal of Social Psychology.42, 239-256. ISSN: 0144-6665.

Locke, A. (2003). "If I'm not worried, I'm nervous, does that make sense?": The use of emotion concepts by athletes in accounts of performance. Forum: Qualitative Social Research.4 (1). ISSN: 1438-5627.

Locke, A. (2002). Gendered Emotion: Personal, cultural or discursive? Feminism and Psychology, 12 (1), 97-104. ISSN: 0959-3535.

Locke, A.  (2001). Reconstructing female emotionality. Social Psychological Review, 3 (2), 16-26. ISSN: 1369-7862.

Book chapters in edited collections:

Locke, A. (in press). The psychologising of emotion and gender: A critical Perspective. In W. Ruberg (Ed.) Sexed Sentiments.  Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Gender and Emotion. Rodolphi: NL.

Robinson, W.P. & Locke, A. (in press). Social psychology and language. In R. Mesthrie (Ed.) Cambridge Handbook of Sociolinguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Abell, J., Locke, A., Condor, S., Gibson, S. & Stevenson, C. (2008) Trying

similarity, doing difference: The role of interviewer self-disclosure in producing interview talk with young people. In N.G. Fielding (Ed.) Interviewing II. London: Sage. (Reprinted from Qualitative Research).

Brown, S.D. & Locke, A. (2007). Social Psychology. In W. Stainton Rogers &  C. Willig (Eds) Handbook of Qualitative Methods in Psychology. London: Sage.

Professional Publications:

• Locke, A. (2009). A word from the editor, Social Psychological Review, 11, 1-2.

• Locke, A. (2008). A word from the editor. Social Psychological Review, 10, 1.

• Locke, A. & Robinson, W.P. (2008) Putting the social back into psychology: Abigail Locke in conversation with W. Peter Robinson. Social Psychological Review, 10, 14-19.

• Locke, A. & Billig, M. (2008).  The hidden routes of antiquarian psychology: Abigail Locke in conversation with Michael Billig. Social Psychological Review, 10, 20-24.

• Locke, A. (2007).  A word from the editor. Social Psychological Review, 9(1), 1.

• Locke, A. &  Whitty, M. (2007). A word from the editors. Social Psychological Review, 9(2).

• Locke, A. (2006). A word from the editor. Social Psychological Review, 8(1), 1.

• Locke, A. (2006).  A word from the editor. Social Psychological Review, 8(2), 61.

• Locke, A. (2005). A word from the editor. Social Psychological Review, 7(2), 53.

• Locke, A. (2005). Putting emotion in context. Review of Parkinson, B., Fischer, A. & Manstead, A (2005). Emotion in Social Relations. Hove: Psychology Press. ISBN: 1-84169-046-5, The Psychologist, 18 (8), p. 496. ISSN: 0952-8229.

• Locke, A. (2003). Review of Robinson, W. Peter (2003). Language in Social Worlds. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. ISBN: 0-631-19336-7, Social Psychological Review, 5,  (2). ISSN: 1369-7862.

Research Reports:

Cromby, J., Brown, S.D., Gross, H. & Locke, A. (2009). Emotions and Crime: A Mixed Methods Approach. Economic and Social Research Council. End of project report.  Award RES:000-22-2434.

Conference Presentations and invited workshops

  • Locke, A.(2009). Invited discussant on Symposium on Fatherhood in the Media (Convenor Brendan Gough). BPS Social Psychology Conference, Sheffield University, 15-17 September 2009.

  • Locke, A.(2009) Choice and risk in infant feeding: Views from an antenatal class. In Symposium on Health, Gender and Sexuality: Showcasing methodological diversity (Convenor: E Peel). Paper to be given at BPS Division of Health Psychology Conference, Aston University, 9-11 September 2009

  • Budds, K., Locke, A. Burr, V. & King, N. (2009). “Nowadays, women feel they can schedule  pregnancy into their diary like they would a dentist appointment” Perspectives on ‘delayed motherhood’ in British newspapers. Poster Presentation at the Society for Reproductive and Infant Psychology Conference, Newcastle, 9-11 September 2009.

  • Cromby, J., Patterson, A., Locke, A.,Brown, S.D. & Gross, H. (2009). Drugs, Cycling and “bloody makin’ a racket”: a discursive study of emotional responses to crime and anti-social behaviour in a deprived inner city area. Paper presentation at BPS Social Psychology Conference, Sheffield University, 15-17 September 2009.

  • Locke, A. (2008) Discourse Analysis. Workshop to be given at European Health Psychology/Division of Health Psychology Conference, University of Bath, 9-12 September 2008.

  • Locke, A. (2008). Constructing the role of fathers in ‘parentcraft’ antenatal classes. Presentation to be given at the Qualitative Methods section conference of the BPS, 2-4 September, 2008, University of Leeds.

  • Locke, A. (2008). Managing accountability in breastfeeding discourse. Presentation at the Social Psychology Section stream at the BPS Annual Conference, 2-4 April 2008, Dublin.

  • Goodings, L. & Locke, A. (2007). Blogging as a discursive practice. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR), 18-20 October 2007, Vancouver, Canada.

  • Locke, A. (2006). Constructions of infant feeding techniques in antenatal teaching sessions. Presentation at 10th International Conference on Language and Social Psychology. University of Bonn, 15-17 June 2006.

  • Locke, A. (2006) “Talking parenting”: A discursive analysis of Parentcraft interactions. Presentation at Qualitative Research and Marginalisation conference, University of Leicester, 3 – 5 May, 2006.

  • Abell, J, Locke, A., Condor, S., Gibson, S. & Stevenson, C.  (2005). “Trying similarity, doing difference”: Paper presentation at the British Psychological Society Social Section Conference, University of Edinburgh, September 2005.

  • Boulter, A. & Locke, A. (2005). “You get cancer off curries and all sorts now”. A discourse analysis of smoking. Poster presentation at the Division of Health Psychology Conference, Coventry University, September 2005.

  • Boulter, A. & Locke, A. (2005). Accounting for risk: A discourse analysis of smoking. Poster presentation at the British Psychological Society Social Section Conference, University of Edinburgh, September 2005

  • Moore, J. & Locke, A. (2005) Discussing suicidal thoughts & feelings: A practical analysis of discourse.  Paper presentation at the British Psychological Society Social Section Conference, University of Edinburgh, September 2005.

  • Duffield, D. & Locke, A. (2003). Place identity in inner-city youths: 'It's all I know'. Poster presentation at the BPS Social Psychology Section Conference. University College London, 10-12 September 2003. Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 12 (2), 135. ISSN: 1350-472X

  • Johnson, E. & Locke, A. (2003). 'But in a way I'm an adult': Youth culture and the negotiation of identity. Poster presentation at the BPS Social Psychology Section Conference. University College London, 10-12 September 2003. Abstract published in Proceedings of the British Psychological Society, 12 (2), 135-6. ISSN: 1350-472X

Pre 2003 presentations:

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